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seeds Miracle grow seed starter mix

TjMartin

TjMartin

I bought a bag of this back in October and sowed my first seeds in the beginning of November. I have noticed all the lower leaves are wilting, and yellowing, plus I used clear cups and can see small patches of green mold inside the cup.
Is this because its an old bag of soil? Lack of nutrients?

I have not fertilized any of my plants yet, but worried that it has to do with lack of nutrients in soil, I water them once a week, for me it's hard to tell when the soil is dry. The top part is dry, but since I have clear cups it looks like dark moist soil to me.

If anyone can help me that would be awesome.

Oh and I did recently buy a big bag of Fox Farm Ocean forest, which I have rinsed off all of my seedlings that were in the small 9pz cups and reported them in that soil. Which a lot of them are have a really tough time adjusting to the transplant. Yellowing, brown spots, just don't look good, I transplanted those this past Sunday.


Sorry I know that was a lot of information, I need to start a Glog and actually take pictures for everyone.
 
Green mold? Could be algae, instead. Especially if it's rather bright green, is more likely algae. Look algae up and see if they look like what's on your soil. If that's the case, it has nothing to do with the soil itself. It has to do more with your watering habits and/or air circulation - most likely lack of air circulation. Get a fan going to improve the circulation. Scrape off any algae you see, then spray the soil surface with a mix of hydrogen peroxide and water. Here's a link to a site (someone else posted it and I grabbed it, but sorry, don't remember who posted it) that gives handy measurements for such use: http://www.using-hydrogen-peroxide.com/gardening-with-hydrogen-peroxide.html

Also, if you bottom-water and ensure the top of the soil does not get wet, that will make a huge difference. Peppers tend to like things to be a tad on the dry side (though not bone dry), so you may need to cut more holes in those solo cups. Also, most of us wait until the leaves start to droop just a tad before watering again. And keep in mind that different plants uptake water at different rates - it may be time to water plant 'x', but plant 'y' doesn't need it yet.
 
I'm assuming your have drain holes in the cups...with that said, the MG is for starting seeds when the seedlings have the 3rd of 4th leaf set then its time to move on to a potting medium. "Green" anything on top of the soil is mold, that is unless you are using green sand.......ha. Wilting and yellowing is the sign of excessive water absortion.

What "geeme" says is correcto.

Be careful with Ocean Forest, I use both the Frog and OF, the OF can be harsh on young seedlings but for transplants is worth the extra bucks.
 
I do have one drain hole about 1/4" in diameter, should I add more? Also I water from bottom only and the green stuff is on the sides of the cups, midway down I. That area, nothing on top soil. The top layer stays dry.
I will start cutting back watering and I will maybe add a few more drain holes. I'm wondering if I should switch to red cups to cut down on the light hitting the roots.
Now I always keep the cup the plant is in inside another cup 24/7, is that ok? Or should I have the cups sitting in some sort of drainage tub so the water can drain out if needed.
 
Probably not gonna be much help here. But it sounds like you're going threw what I did last year (my first year growing) An my issue was over babying. To much watering etc... All noob mistakes. I to tried the transplant when signs started showing. An all they did was stall. Didn't grow or nothing. Just sat there until finally all there leaves just feel off. Took about three weeks for that to happen. An ended up losing all 24 I had sprouted.

On a side note tho. The only two plants I got to grow from seed to fruit was a Amish Bush from PepperLover.com. An I went about it totally different. Said I was gonna abuse them. An they thrived better than anything go figure. Think I only watered em every 10-14 days. Or when they drooped. Don't wanna sound like doom and gloom. It's not a rocket science. But know matter how much you read and think you know. It's a learning curve if it's you're first time from seed. You have to experience it first hand and get a feel for it. An see the mistakes to know what not to do. Wish you best of luck the rest of the season.

Oh and yea take them out of the other cup. Cause any water that tries to drain back out they will just be constantly soaking in. Keeping the soil damp and never drying out.
 
Ok, so tomorrows projects are:
Make more holes
Take lots of pictures
Take plant cups out of watering cups

I'm gonna have to find some thing to put the cups in to allow drainage through the holes now, it wouldn't help putting them flat on the foiled cardboard. Hmmmm, I may have to take a trip to the garden store.

Thanks for all the help, my plants have been looking in rough shape since I transplanted them all, and I think they should start to look better with these improvements.

On my Biker Billy Jalapeño plants, and my Sweet carnival mix plants, they are all still in the miracle grow seed starting mix, should I be worried about that?
 
I have found you can just set them on an old folded towel for a little while and that will help wick out some of the excess water after watering. An IMO I don't think your seed starting mix is the issue. As many on here have great results from it. Think it's an over watering issue foremost. An keeping them sitting in the other cup just helped drown them. If your Bikers and sweets were done that way also. Yea I'd worry about them too. I have found in my short experience chile plants can handle a major lack of water better than a little over watering.

An yea Musky that would keep them up high enough to not just sit in the same old stagnant drained water. Which is where I believe algae forms when introduced to light. Never seen it form in clean fresh.
 
muskymojo said:
I forget who it was, but somebody around here uses 2 cups with a few marbles in the bottom cup to create some space between the two.
Click to expand...

I think Patrick double cups it using styro peanut insulation packing...

TjMartin said:
Ok, so tomorrows projects are:
Make more holes
Take lots of pictures
Take plant cups out of watering cups

I'm gonna have to find some thing to put the cups in to allow drainage through the holes now, it wouldn't help putting them flat on the foiled cardboard. Hmmmm, I may have to take a trip to the garden store.

Thanks for all the help, my plants have been looking in rough shape since I transplanted them all, and I think they should start to look better with these improvements.

On my Biker Billy Jalapeño plants, and my Sweet carnival mix plants, they are all still in the miracle grow seed starting mix, should I be worried about that?
Click to expand...

Hey Tj,

Check any of the big box stores out now that the Christmas cludder is put away, most are putting out their garden gear. A typical 22 x 11" black flimsy flat can cost as little as $1.00. There are channels in the bottom for air and water flow.

I must have thrown out a hundred 3" thinwall pots that would have been ideal for you, those run around 14 cents a piece new. It never fails when something gets thrown out theres always a future need for it. If I had them they would have been yours...

Theres quite a few of us here that think we have all the answers, and theres the others which don't chime in...and too they have the answers/views.
It comes down to the fact that we all fine tune how we grow and do whats best for us with trial and error. Theres no definite way to start the seeds or maintain a consistant grow from seedling through harvest. We all use different mediums, lighting where needed and different daily routines. I've been at this as a serious grower of peppers and other plants since the early 1980's............and I'm still trying to perfect this.

Good luck with your grow, .....the circle of gardening never ends

Greg
 
TjMartin said:
I'm gonna have to find some thing to put the cups in to allow drainage through the holes now, it wouldn't help putting them flat on the foiled cardboard. Hmmmm, I may have to take a trip to the garden store.
Click to expand...
I went to Ross and bought a package of 6 cooking sheets which
have about a 1/2-3/4 inch lip all the way around. They are really
cheap and work great for putting the cups in. You can bottom water
in them too if you want. I stopped using the black plastic flats except
for germinating under domes 'cuz I don't water much when they are
germinating:

DSCN3928a.jpg


Also, instead of making a bundh of holes in the cups, you can use a
box knife and cut four drain holes on the side of bottom of the cups
in about 3 seconds. Seriously.
DSCN3897a.jpg
 
PaulG, i do the same with the cups. Definitely the best way and extremely quick. And doesn't mess with the structural integrity of the cups, like other methods can.
 
I just put a hot skewer through the middle of the cups. Does that mess with structural integrity?

Side note, easier or not - I like playing with blow torches when I build stuff. ;)
 
georgej said:
I just put a hot skewer through the middle of the cups. Does that mess with structural integrity?

Side note, easier or not - I like playing with blow torches when I build stuff. ;)
Click to expand...
Nothing wrong with that :flamethrower:
 
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